


forevermore

by ameriboo



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Best Friends, Conversations, Emotional, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Hugs, Humor, Love, Other, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26831017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ameriboo/pseuds/ameriboo
Summary: On the evening of her wedding, Misty is with Ash.
Relationships: Kasumi | Misty & Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Kasumi | Misty/Ookido Shigeru | Gary Oak
Comments: 12
Kudos: 19





	forevermore

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i don't own anything.
> 
> updated andslightly revamped version of a drabble i posted on fanfiction.net. i love love and friendship.

> **_Thought I lost you, I gave you away._ **

On the evening of her wedding, Misty is with Ash. She hasn't eaten since early morning, so he brings her a plate of appetizers to share. It’s the minutes leading up to the final moment. So, as they do, they spend time mocking each other over how they both equally were messes throughout the day. Misty picked at her face too much in the morning that no amount of cooling gel could calm her skin down and Ash is only _slightly_ hungover from going toe to toe with Professor “I have never said no to a shot!” Oak. He takes a sip of a sugary lemonade, his headache faint, before handing it to her. Misty accepts it thankfully, twiddling her fingers in nerves. Excitement radiating from her as Ash registers her aura as joyful as the ebb and flow of an ocean tide. Ash thinks to himself how funny it is to see her munch in her wedding dress, cheeks flush and eyelids coated in a shimmer. 

"Be careful not to spill anything, that's probably the nicest thing you own," he teases, taking red bean mochi from the shared plate between them. She swallows her bite.

"Says the kid who owns one good pair of jeans," she retorts and pokes him hard on the forehead. He flinches and laughs along with her.

"Not a kid," Ash emphasizes, patting his chest. "A Master."

Misty rolls her eyes at him which only causes his smile to widen. He isn't wrong after all.

They set their shared treats aside. Misty adjusts her pearly white mermaid gown and dusts off the nonexistent crumbs. The tall redhead stands, reaching for her bouquet of wild meadow flowers native to Pallet, mixed with some lavender and baby’s breath.

Ash stands takes a step back and looks at her, breathless. Her eyebrows perk up at his undivided attention.

"…. What?"

He tells her, "You look beautiful.” Ash is sincere, with no sarcasm or teasing to his voice. He smiles softly, picturing the brazen girl he used to know telling him to shut up and dance as she twirls in her rose-colored yukata.

Misty was always a firecracker but the woman in front of him radiates; she glows.

"Thank you, Ash." She is the brightest he has ever seen her.

"Misty, you're getting married. I almost don't believe it."

"Believe it," she replies. "You are part of the wedding party."

"I'll be there for the honeymoon too—" Misty pinches Ash's side and he returns a pinch in response. "Come on, I practically live in Alola!"

Their snickering subsides, and the two of them fall silent. Ash gets a wistful look in his eye as he watches her bite her mauve stained lip. Time approaches. Minutes before the beginning of her new life, and of all people she chooses to spend the time with, it's him.

For Ash, it is a bittersweet honor.

He offers his arm and she grasp it with a nod. Music and laughter await from them outside, yet the duo remains strangely quiet.

Misty halts. Her tangerine waves rustles against his shoulder. "Wait."

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"I've known you long enough to know when you have something to say."

"I don't, I promise."

"Ash Ketchum," she warns. Misty twists his arm. He faces her and nudges her back, but her expression is no longer playful. Her habitual flaring of the nose when she means business begins.

"Nothing, it's just—remember when we were kids and you said you and I would be married someday? I guess it's starting to hit me that it's coming true."

He recalls their youth. Two numbskull brats ready to change the world and make it theirs. "You were always so wise about junk like that."

A tender smile breaks across her face. "That was forever ago, huh? We sure did have a lot of adventures," Misty draws. "But in some way, this is a different adventure, or at least that's how it feels to me."

"You're right it's just that…." Ash shrugs. "It's so stupid but it feels like….I'm losing my girl, ya know?" A pensive tone to his voice, the laugh curt but soft. "Not like _that_ but like, what I'm saying is that the Misty who I traveled with…the person I shared my first adventure with is starting a new part of her life."

Misty's ocean eyes flash with something bright.

"You've been my number one girl for so long and now you're getting married…it's a lot to process…but I'm just being ridiculous and sentimental. We should go—"

Ash begins to walk away, laughing at himself for having such a feeling. Before he could take another step, she yanks Ash back and pulls him into an embrace. He is speechless. She pays no mind to her hair rustling or her makeup smudging. She just cares about holding him tight.

"Ash," Misty says as she pulls away from their hug, hands still locked. She beams, fire and warmth in her eyes, and tells him clearly, "I'll always be your number one girl. Always."

She tightens her grip. " _You're_ my best friend."

He looks down at her with the same amount of warmth and care. Even at this age, the redhead still brings him back down to his senses.

"You hear me, Ketchum?"

Ash lets out another curt laugh and nods, scratching the back of his head. "I hear ya."

"Good." She smooths out his suit, her hands settles on his shoulders.

"I know I don't always say it, but I love you, a lot," he tells her, blinking his eyes in preparation to fight back some tears threatening to fall. " _You're_ my best friend."

For as long as he has known her, she has always had trouble saying those three words together. For as long as they've been friends, she has always shown him love. She leaves those words for good moments.

"Oh Ash," Misty laughs his name, almost like she was talking to that gung-ho kid she used to know and not the grown man standing before her. "Even when you pressed caterpie to my face, I already knew you were going to be important to me," she admits. "I'm always going to love you and that's not something that will change, you hear me?"

Their friendship has been tested through distance and time, and yet here they are.

"I hear ya," he replies. Ash takes a deep breath. “And…” A pause. “—Misty, I am happy for you. I mean, I’ve seen you angry, sad, and literally, I’ve seen you in so many ways. Every emotion in existence. But to see you in love, Misty?”

Her lip quivers and he takes a second hope that Daisy doesn’t bite her sister’s head off for smudging her lipstick.

“It’s something else, really—” Ash feels warmth envelop him as she grips her arms tightly around his middle once more, her forehead pressed into his shoulder. He lets out a laugh as he hears a small sniffle escape from her. “Can’t find the words?”

“I,” she begins, her shoulders shaking as she pulls away to wipe her slightly runny nose with the palm of her hand, “I can’t stand you sometimes.”

“I love you too.”

“Making me cry on a day like this. The nerve."

He whistles. "Man, when did we turn into such saps?" They let go of each other, the clock ticking.

She adjusts herself and winks. "Age does wonders, my friend. Now—let's go before you make me late for my wedding."

"I promise I won't make you late to you next one, Mist."

He jokes because they both know there won't be such a thing. Ash lifts her hand and presses her knuckle to his lips, leaving a gentle kiss to which Misty's eyes widen in surprise. She is stunned, ocean blues glistening at her best friend’s gesture of love, of respect.

He let's go of her hand and offers his arm once again. Misty laces her arm through his arm, squeezing it, and allows Ash to lead her to the ceremony.

The Oak grounds are covered by their loved ones. Friends, family, and pokémon. Decorative twinkling fairy lights and candles brought the area to life. Leave it to Gary Oak to have a ceremony at twilight.

Violins and piano play a low melody. The audience shifts in their seats.

Under the oldest tree in Pallet Town, stood the groom. Ash catches Gary, his oldest friend, turn to them. He is somewhat taken back at how easily Gary's sharp, pensive eyes soften at the sight of his bride.

From his side, Ash hears her breath faintly hitch and feels Misty pressing her fingers deeper into his upper arm. Her excitement was beginning to rub off on him as all eyes crept towards the bride.

Two of his oldest friends, two influential demons that struck his every nerve. Two strong-hearted and terrifyingly smart people that evidently met on their own terms. They breezed past each other in childhood, yet something grew down the road after they stopped for a moment, the two of them older with patience, and looked at each other. An unexpected discovery had been made when the gym leader met the researcher in training. Two of them in that post-adventure on the road high. They understood hot blood coursing through your veins yet the pain of paper cuts after filing for hours. The growing pains of life after global travel. The love of freshly grounded coffee and an appreciation for vacations after months of hard work. They were kindred spirits of sorts, or that was the way Ash tried to name it. Misty and Gary clashed and connected in a way Ash has only see in a battle. A water-type pokémon using a fire-based move sort of bizarre.

"He sees me," Misty told him late one night, she and Ash on their third bottle of beer. "Gary sees me for what I am and sometimes it is the scariest, most wonderful thing I ever could've imagined."

"To be seen?" Ash asked.

She paused, smiling towards the sky. "No. To be understood."

One of Ash's most heart-stopping moments in life was walking in on an eighteen-year-old Gary and Misty curled around one another on his mom's extra futon after coming back home from traveling across Orre. When Misty initially told him, she was dating Gary in a postcard sent before his return, Ash thought it was a prank. Misty wearing Gary's white button-down in bed was proof it was not.

What Gary and Misty have begun small, almost insignificant but grew to become deep and sincere. A match that set a fire. Now, no longer just a leader and a baby researcher—a Kanto Elite Four member marrying the Leagues' head Professor gained regional attention, yet it was a quaint celebration. Leave it to the popular couple to keep their celebration private.

Ash may not have seen how it started or who first pined for who, but he watches them and sees a pair of equals that deserve each other. He thinks of his mementos from Gary and Misty—a half pokéball wrapped in a coral pink handkerchief now kept in the pocket of his suit.

His past self would never believe that in the future Gary Oak and Misty Williams would fall in love. And that he would be the one to give her away.

"Ash?" She asks, bringing him back to reality. Misty calls for Ash but her focus, her everything remains fixated on the man waiting for her. Soulful music heightens and begins to play, and Ash Ketchum stands straighter, tears threatening to fall from the corner of his eyes. Before he can guide her forward Misty quietly whispers something to him. Softly, she tells him, "Thank you."

And it flows through his ears. He turns his attention to Misty, catching the joy drip from her face like warm honey from a comb; her happiness is his happiness. Soon he will bring her to meet Gary at the other end of the aisle and let go. Ash holds on to her words that flowed through his ears to press to his heart. And for a slither of a moment, his swelling heartbeats slow down as he grips his free hand around her arm. It was his final turn to guide her. 

With that, they step forward and the tears fall anyway.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Author's Note:**

> they are forever kids and forever friends. let me know what you think! xoxo


End file.
